Well it looks like all the efforts of the last four years have been worth it. This weekend sees us self sufficient in Pork, Lamb, Chicken and Eggs. We even have some of last years fish left from our boating trips to Lyme Regis. We still havent mastered the all year fresh vegetables though, so with this in mind we have just redesigned and rebuilt our vegetable plots, with the help of my cousin and her family. We now have a raised bed system to improve the drainage as we are on a heavy clay soil and prolong the growing period. We have 16 beds at 5x5ft and 8 beds at 5x10ft plus the poly tunnel. We have designed the beds so they can be individually netted and covered with fleece should they need to be. So I expect by this time next year we should be in a better position for vegetables as well.

On the home front we have been slightly hit by the Foot and Mouth problem. We were due to collect two new weaners (piglets) to fatten for Christmas last weekend. However, due to the foot and mouth outbreak there is a nationwide ban on all stock movement. And although we are about 90 miles from the area in accordance with the guidelines from DEFRA we checked every one of our animals very  carefully. The good news is we have a small amount of foot rot in the sheep due to the wet weather which we treated and everything else is fine.

 The lambs are fattening well and we are still hatching chickens we currently have 97 of them.. Our two new pigs Doris and Agatha are settling in nicely and we think Brenda is pregnant. We spent most of the weekend outside as the weather was great, we were clearling one of the island beds which is full of trees. I think a previous owner did a great job of planting dozens and dozens of trees, unfortunately they did not consider how big they would all grow a nd we are having to thin them out. We have tried to move some of them but they are to big, we have also had professional tree surgeans in to do the more dangerous work, but we do the rest.

Well, as I said last week we expected to be collecting 5 new pigs at the weekend, but it didnt happen. I rang on Friday to confirm what time to arrive and to get the address and directions. I was phoning a mobile number in Devon and was getting a land line in Canterbury. I tried three times Friday evening and twice again on Saturaday but no response and although they had my number they never phoned. So I can come to one of two conclusions;

      1) they didnt want to sell to us
      2) they are currently flooded and got more important things to worry about.

So I am currently trying to find someone with 2 or 3 G.O.S to meet the orders we have for Pork.

Well the lambs were born in April as expected but we only have 5 of them this year. So we currently have 12 sheep.Although they were the first livestock we really had we like them the least.

On the pig front Oprah sadly died of a gastric ulcer in the latter stages of pregnancy about 5 weeks ago. We were all pretty upset and I got the vet to check the others over. Other than Captain Pugwash needing to go on a diet all was well. He did however suggest that if we are intending to breed from them an additional bloodline would be useful as we currently only have two bloodlines. So we purchased two new gilts (young ladies) named Doris and Agatha.  We have also decided to go into  pork production and I have purchased 5 Gloucester Old Spots and we will be collecting them on Saturaday.

We have also decided to go into chickens a bit more seriously and we currently have 84 birds of which we have small numbers of rare breeds, Vorwerks, Lavender Araucanas, Salmon Favorelles etc. We are intending to breed small flocks of each before we start selling them later this year. So all in all it could be worse.

The rain has ruined alot of our fruit and vegetables this year. Despite all our hard work we dont have much to harvest. The orchard we planted nearly two years ago is looking good and we have fruit on a couple of the trees.

It seems only yesterday that I vowed to make time to blog at least once a week if not more. Although I was sure "the time was right" for me it didnt quite work out that way. And in checking my blog I realised I had not updated it  since February.

So what have I been doing well it would be easier to list what I havent been doing. However,  I survived my first efforts at lambing so did seven lambs, although we have subsequently butchered four of them for the freezer. We have currently borrowed a Ram from a neighbour and are expecting new editions in April 07.

The five Kune Kune pigs we purchased earlier in the year are doing well and are now full grown. We have two boars called Captain Pugwash and Badger and three sows called Brenda, Oprah and Crystal they come from two seperate blood lines and we are hoping to start piglet production after christmas.

We had a very productive year in the kitchen garden with a large amount of produce, in the fruit department we grew all our favourites strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries, plums, damsons, greengages, apples, pears, figs and grapes but we also had a go at our own melons this year, which worked pretty well. I
In the vegetable line we grew in excess of thirty varieties and have become firm converts to eating chard, the small leaves can be used in salads and the the older leaves used as a replacement for spinach. The brightly coloured stems can be chopped, parbolied and baked in a cheese sauce. And if the family leave any the pigs love them straight from the ground.

I have just had a week off at half term which we split into two halves. The first part we spent on the small holding repairing fences, stocking up for lambing and learning about pig keeping. The second half of the holiday was a trip to Scotland including visits to distilleries and of course the obligatory sampling of whisky.

Back in December 2004 I purchased 6 ewe lambs with the proceeds of a book on "Autonomic Computing and its impact on traditional ITIL based Service Management" which was published in Japan. The ewes have mostly lived in the field with little or no intervention from us and an occasional visit from the local shepherd. However, we wanted to be much more involved in the whole process and so intend to do the lambing ourselves. The first week I spent learning how to treat foot rot in sheep and checking if all the ewes were pregnant. Well the good news is they are all expecting and we have the possibility of 3 sets of twins so all being well we could have 9 lambs. The plan (and I use the term loosely) is to fatten up the boys for slaughter and keep some of the girls for future breeding stock.

We collected the pigs the Saturaday before last and so far havent managed to kill them. We have been suprised by how friendly they are,they all rush to greet us when we appear and squeal repeatedly until we feed them. I have checked them all over carefully and brushed them with pig oil and they nearly all have names. When they all have names I will post the pictures with the names.

The second part of the week we went up to Loch Tay in Scotland the scenery was fantastic lots of waterfalls and wild animals. I did have some problems with the food but I am coeliac (gluten intolerance) and it can be tough eating out at times. We did drive 20 miles on the Friday trying to find somewhere I could eat. We stopped at three villages and checked out 8 or 9 menus before we found somewhere I could eat. So if you like bread,cakes and pies you will do well in Scotland.

But, you do have to admire the scots, when the farmers got bored in the winter they used to form co-operatives to make whisky for the community. These small local stills are now illegal but they have left an indelible mark on the countryside. I can definitely recommend  a visit to the Edradour Distillery, it is a small traditionally run distillery producing 15 barrels of whisky a week the same way is has done since 1825.

So I was wondering why did the English never do the same?

We had a plan my husband and I, that within 10 years we would move fromour townhouse in Bolton to our dream home. This would be a small farm where we would grow all own food vegetables & fruit, meat & poultry.

Well year six arrived and we had the money, so we started to hunt for "the dream house". We eventually found a Victorian Farmhouse with 3 acres in a rural location in Somerset with the essential broadband available. Well rural life is fine but there are some minimum standards!
That was just over two years ago and we have discovered many things,not least about ourselves.

Last autumn I had what I thought was a really good idea, as a family (I have two sons) we would plant an orchard. I had visions of sitting beneath the trees with the chickens scatching around and the beehives in the corner. I carefully researched fruit trees and selected apples (eating and cooking), pears, plums and cherries. Well we sectioned off part of the paddock, moved the ducks, geese and chickens into the "would be" orchard area.

The day came for the planting and it was raining, well my oldest son Phillip went out because roller blading was more interesting that digging holes in the rain. My youngest son Garion informed me he was "an indoor boy" and promptly went into the media room to play Masters of Orion.So my husband and I went out and planted the trees in the rain, when we had finished I felt that we had started to really stamp our mark on the place and imagined what it would be like fully grown.

The following week, the weather was worse but I went up to feed the chickens, as I got nearer something didnt look right, the sheep had broken down the fence and were eating the fruit trees. I chased them all away and tried to repair the fence. The following day it was obvious they had got through again, but as I got nearer I could'nt see any of the birds. A fox had got in as well, so I was stood in the rain looking around my dream orchard at the devastation. The fox had killed all the birds, 3 geese, 6 ducks and 12 chickens and the sheep had eaten the fruit trees and trampled the fence.

Since then we have learnt alot about fencing, the orchard has been replanted and we have a new henhouse and run that is totally enclosed.The sheep are all pregnant (I hope) and due at the begining of March.We had a very sucessful year with the vegetables and fruit, I even made 26lb of Raspberry Jam.

 Saturaday we are expecting some new editions. I have purchased 5 Kune Kune piglets.  I have visions of............